Saturday, April 21, 2012

4 July 1280, Early Afternoon (The Guard)

The guard in front of you speaks once more. "How came you upon this goblin? And why are you bringing him into town?"

Tired of arguing over Dirtbag, Gaven takes out his club, walks behind the goblin and caves in his skull. Dirtbag crumples to the ground, dead, without a sound.

Varros moves to claim the goblin's ear for the collection, addressing the guard, "Since you seem to prefer your goblins dead, I assume we will be permitted access now?"

The guard is first shocked, then angered: "There'll be none of that here at the gate!" He steps between Varros and the dead goblin's body. Then he looks to Gaven: "Why did you do this? My orders are to inquire upon contact with any potential enemies near the gate, and to bring them back to the captain for interrogation if possible! And as soon as I begin to inquire, you kill him! Now how am I supposed to carry out my orders and bring him back for questioning?"

Gaven says to the guard, "We return from Lover's Grove, where we rescued Elsie Miggins from a scouting band of goblins. We have learned that the goblins are mobilizing somewhere on the north bank of the Coldstream and plan on plundering the nearby farms and villages. Now, please, let us enter to speak with Mayor Adsul about gathering a militia to counter these attacks."

"That's as may be..." begins the guard.

Slightly taken aback by the outburst by Gaven, Duran recovers and also addresses the guard "Sir we are also bringing home one of the villager's children who had gone missing. Please let us pass quickly as we have news for your captain. Where might we find him?"

Oloc, who also was caught completely off-guard by the suddenness of Gaven's action, speaks up as well. The mage is not sorry for the loss of 'dirtbag', but certainly didn't see that coming. He echoes the request for an audience with the authorities. "Every hour could be vital. The outlying farms are in danger of attack at any time."

"Well," says the guard, "I can promise you one thing. You'll definitely speak to the captain. And you can explain to him why I have no live prisoner for him to interrogate."

The guard motions with his hand and two more guards come out from the tower. The guard doing all the speaking gives them an order: "Take these gentlemen to see the captain."

No one makes any move to disarm or restrain you. But the guards ordered to take you to the captain flank you and motion for you to walk forward into town with them.
After a short march along the inside perimeter of the palisade, you pass a long wooden building, with a few guards milling around it, and then immediately thereafter are led into a two-storey stone house, with the emblem of the West Kingdom hung outside beside the front door.

The guards lead you inside, up a flight of stairs, and you are told to wait in a small antechamber before a closed door. One guard remains with you, the other opens the door, enters the next room and closes it behind him.
After several minutes, the door opens again and the guard comes out. "The captain will see you."

You enter a medium-sized office. There are several shelves around the room containing books and rolled up parchments, a large map of the surrounding area hanging from one wall, racks supporting weapons and armor, and a large desk, illuminated by the light coming in through two tall windows, at which sits a very fit, authoritative-looking, middle-aged man poring over still more maps and documents spread across his desk. The man wears a tunic bearing the arms of the West Kingdom.

He looks up from his papers and leans back in his chair. "I am captain Belloc," he says. The captain eyes you up and down, taking your measure. "So," he continues. "They tell me you are a band of goblin-slayers. I should very much like to know your story, and why you killed that goblin in front of the north gate. Quite the dramatic display, but one that's made my day a little more difficult. The mayor has given the guard standing orders to bring in any potential enemies for questioning. I suspect I'm the one who will have to answer to him for this."

7 comments:

OOC: Varros will run down all the information the party has learned and if need be show the captain the trophies as proof. He will also explain that Gaven is a good sort who perhaps loves the light a bit more than most.

Not feeling the need to answer for Gaven's actions Duran lets the others do the talking as he looks around the room. As he looks he tries to see if he can make out anything of importance on the desk or maps of the Captain.

"Well met Captain Belloc, I am Gaven, acolyte of Light. I apologize if my action causes you added stress. The guard asked 'why are you bringing the goblin into town?', suggesting that the goblin was unwelcome and would impede our re-entry. I simply rectified the situation, thus fulfilling my oath to the Light," Gaven pauses to bow his head before continuing.

"You would have received no useful information from the runt of the goblin litter anyway. While he was able to aid us in surprising the rest of the force, he had no useful intelligence on the goblin's purpose."

Gaven motions to Oloc, "Oloc's arcane arts is likely better than any method you would have to extract information from the goblin."

Gaven pulls the note found on Grimtooth's body and hands it to Belloc, "This, however, was found on the hobgoblin leading the mission. Oloc translated it to say 'Main force gathering on north bank. Scout enemy positions only. Do not engage or take prisoners. – Bloodfang'."

Gaven pauses to allow the information to sink in before continuing, "It seems the goblins mobilize under hobgoblins. This is very serious indeed. While I cannot speak for my comrades, I offer my services to you, as your goals and mine certainly overlap. I shall also say they wanted to bring the goblin to you and were against my slaying of the goblin, Light forgive them."

Gaven finishes his sermon by saying, "I hope my explanation is satisfactory, and if so, my duties require me to seek out Bill Barley's father to deliver news on his son's demise and to return with haste to the temple to pray for guidance. Please allow my comrades and I to take our leave, so we all can prepare for the coming threat."

OOC: Sorry for the delay in posting. Also, was Elsie brought with us or was she released?

In that case, amend the last paragraph to say: "I hope my explanation is satisfactory, and if so, my duties require me to bring Miss Elsie to her home, to seek out Bill Barley's father to deliver news on his son's demise, and to return with haste to the temple to pray for guidance. Please allow my comrades and I to take our leave, so we all can prepare for the coming threat."